North Melbourne erased the memories of last week's horrid performance against Carlton by thrashing Fremantle by 97 points in their practice match at Manuka Oval on Saturday.

Stand-in coach Darren Crocker, who was handed the coaching reins by Dean Laidley this week, said the 23.11 (149) to 8.4 (52) win was predictable given the way the Kangaroos players had prepared for the match.

"Last week's performance was unacceptable," Crocker said.

"It was just the effort and work rate and that was addressed throughout the week.

"We had a good week on the track and you just knew the way the boys prepared this week that the effort and the intensity was going to be a hell of a lot better."

North marched away from the Dockers with a seven-goal second term when their physical superiority began to show.

In the second half, Fremantle had nothing left to give and were virtual spectators to a Kangaroos onslaught.

The inexperienced Dockers side toiled hard but was out-muscled and out-run by a desperate opposition clearly committed to putting on an improved performance after last week's effort.

Daniel Wells was a constant source of inspiration for his team mates in North's first visit to Canberra since abandoning their near decade long commitment to playing regular season matches in the nation's capital in 2006.

Drew Petrie provided a target in the forward line kicking five goals while the skilful Lindsay Thomas proved a constant nightmare for the Dockers defenders, finishing with four goals.

Fremantle coach Mark Harvey said the youth of his side left them exposed to an opponent keen to impress.

"We probably had an overload of kids and that (the score) is a direct result," said Harvey.

"That's not taking anything away from the Kangaroos.

"They are obviously rebounding quite quickly after their result last week."

Harvey said he would persist with his experimental line-up which includes continuing to give young players a run and playing Chris Tarrant in defence.

"We can all have long and hard pre-seasons but it's not until you get into a game that you work out what you have to do to be an elite player at this level," he said.

"We had six or seven first gamers today and that's where we are at."

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